Wilson Signs Bill on Clemency for Battered Women

Gov. Pete Wilson on Monday signed a bill empowering himself in clemency cases to consider whether a prisoner convicted of killing her abuser was a victim of battered women’s syndrome.

The new law, carried by Assemblywoman Barbara Friedman (D-Los Angeles), provides that the syndrome may be recognized as one cause that a governor can consider in setting a female convict free.

“For many battered women convicted of killing their abusers, their only hope for freedom is a justice system that recognizes battered women’s syndrome as grounds for clemency,” she said.

Now, the law allows the state Board of Prison Terms to recommend gubernatorial clemency on grounds that an inmate had received an unusual term or had demonstrated good conduct behind bars, or for “any other cause” the board considers appropriate.

The Friedman legislation adds evidence of battered women’s syndrome as a cause to consider in granting clemency. The bill was sponsored by the California Coalition for Battered Women, a legal advocacy and support organization.

Twenty-one women convicted of killing or assaulting their abusers have petitioned Wilson for clemency, citing themselves as victims of battered women’s syndrome. The governor can start considering such pleas on Jan. 1 when the bill becomes effective.

For various reasons, Friedman said, many convicted battered women did not present evidence at their trials that would have demonstrated “why the women feared for their lives.” Her bill will put such evidence before governors in appeals for clemency.

An aide to Friedman, John Young, noted that Wilson signed a law last year that enables women accused of murder and assault to use battered women’s syndrome as part of their defense at trial. However, for those in prison the 1991 law is of no use, he said.

Young said the battered women’s syndrome defense puts forward the viewpoint of a “victim who is in an ongoing abusive relationship and the kinds of responses that person makes in trying to survive.”

He said the battered women’s syndrome can be a key to explaining a defendant’s motivation and is crucial in determining an appropriate sentence, such as whether a woman was guilty of murder or manslaughter.

The Legislature turned its attention to battered women in prison last year when a committee held a hearing behind barbed wire at the California Institution for Women at Frontera. Eight convicted women received national publicity after testifying in wrenching detail of the desperation that finally brought them to kill their husbands.

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